Share, Professor Troll is throwing out a fishing line to troll-in anyone who will bite. Don’t be a fish.
---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <sharelong60@...> wrote: Ok, Richard, nobody else is gonna challenge you on this. Actually I'm not either. But it would be great if you could say more about it. Seems revolutionary (-: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <punditster@...> wrote: Anyone who meditates with the aim of samadhi is a Buddhist. On 11/3/2013 4:42 PM, s3raphita@... mailto:s3raphita@... wrote: Is it possible to be a Buddhist and practice meditation effortlessly? Yes, according to MMY. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com> mailto:fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com wrote: Should TM'er Buddhists even be allowed to have a Dome badge? Is it possible to be a buddhist and practice meditation effortlessly? -Buck ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com mailto:fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> mailto:s3raphita@... wrote: Re "The Gnostic prophet Mani taught radical dualist cosmology; a struggle between the opposing forces of good and evil, spiritual light versus the material world darkness. Humans are composed of two opposing elements in a battle for power. There is a soul, but it is influenced by elements of both good and evil. Manichaeism is similar to the dualistic Bogomils, Paulicians, and Cathars. It's not complicated. Adepts in China and the Far East would probably relate to this with their own notions of Yin and Yang.": The Yin and Yang "concepts" point to a Tao that includes the opposites. Imagining that one side of a pair of opposites could gain the upper hand over the other would be a vulgar error. As the little we know about Manichaeism and similar "dualist" religions/philosophies comes to us from hostile sources isn't it possible that these beliefs weren't as dualist as they've been painted but perhaps also had the idea of a Transcendence that reconciled the positive and negative aspects of life? ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com mailto:fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <punditster@...> mailto:punditster@... wrote: So, let's review what we know about the prophet Mani. The Gnostic prophet Mani taught radical dualist cosmology; a struggle between the opposing forces of good and evil, spiritual light versus the material world darkness. Humans are composed of two opposing elements in a battle for power. There is a soul, but it is influenced by elements of both good and evil. Manichaeism is similar to the dualistic Bogomils, Paulicians, and Cathars. It's not complicated. Adepts in China and the Far East would probably relate to this with their own notions of Yin and Yang, which is probably derived from the Indian Sankhya, a radical dualism, and later tantra- a theory of polarity which posits male and female energies. The name 'Mani' is Sanskrit. Mani traveled and lived in India for several years, visiting Buddhist lands such as Bamiyan in Afghanistan, so it is not surprising that Buddhist influences would be apparent. Mani apparently adopted his theory of the reincarnation (transmigration of souls) from the Buddhists. Mani's sect structure was apparently based on the Buddhist Sangha, that is, Arhants and the lay follower community. On 11/2/2013 11:31 AM, emptybill@... mailto:emptybill@... wrote: No wonder the Near-Eastern realm got so mixed up. It seems that as Manichean ideology spread to the East it incorporated Buddhist concepts along the way in a effort to show the superiority of the "Religion of Light." Mani lived during the third century of the current era. Mani used the epitaph "Buddha of Light" and identified himself as Maitreya. He and his followers specifically borrowed from early Pure Land Sutras and Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy. As it entered the region of Gandhara and spread to China it used the Buddhist Hinayana tradition to support its views of "matter, the body and the world." MANICHAEAN VIEWS OF BUDDHISM David A. Scott Christ Church College of Higher Education
